This is a CU Colorado Springs student blog for urban economics the economics of social issues.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Darn those American polluters!

Cars are an American pastime. Since Henry Ford’s Model T, Americans have loved their cars. But with the recent concerns over global warming and emissions, the US has been taking a lot of flak over the amount of gas guzzling cars that we own and their effect on the environment. Are there solutions to this problem? Of course. Any that Americans would take to? Probably not.

Aside from certain states attempting to pass laws that would lower overall car emissions, little has been done to decrease the impact that American drivers have on the environment. Of course there are other ways of lowering the pollution that American vehicles produce, but they’re not very likely. Some would suggest that we take advantage of public transportation or walk to our destinations. Doing either of these would significantly lower our impact on the environment. However, unlike many European and Hispanic countries, the Landscape of most of American states is not built for this. Colorado Springs is a prime example. Most people are living in one area and working in another. With the open landscape that we have, walking anywhere is simply out of the question. Public transportation wouldn’t be much better. With the variety of destinations that residents travel to every day, an hour of errands would turn into an entire day of traveling. Not to mention that a prevalent trait among U.S. citizens is their love of the open road and its symbolism of freedom. So, people can gripe all they want about our car pollution, but until pollution-free fuel is created, Americans will continue to drive their gas guzzlers and love doing it while the rest of the world blames us for global warming.